With the conclusion of World War II emerged two victorious super powers, who had two completely different ideologies: the democratic U.S. and the communist Soviet Union. This inevitably began the era of icy tensions (Cold War) between the two countries where both countries constantly threatened and attempted to outdo the other. By 1952 when President Eisenhower took office, the U.S. comprised a strict foreign policy that strived to “contain” the spreading of communism and to take a firm stand against communist threats. With this policy the U.S. attempted to promote safety and freedom for democracy. However, as a result of this foreign policy came the danger of nuclear war as well. Perhaps the closest the U.S. came to starting a war with the Soviets was in the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, during the presidency of Kennedy. This paper will show how the stance Eisenhower and Kennedy took towards Communism strived for safety and freedom for America and democracy but at the same time escalated the danger for democracy as well.
The Eisenhower administration, under Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, sought to promote safety and freedom of democracy through the liberation of captive people under communism and through massive retaliation of communism. In reality, however the policy wasn’t much of a change from Truman’s containment policy since the U.S. mostly concentrated in stopping the spreading of communism throughout the world during this time. The Eisenhower administration aided the French in their efforts to defeat Ho Chi Minh and his communist associates in Indo-China. The U.S. also aided Taiwan when they were pressured by Communist China. In this sense the U.S. did seek to make it safe for countries around the world from becoming communist. However, this necessarily didn’t mean that America and the world in general were safe from hostilities. It can be said that through this policy the U.S. created the danger of starting another world war. For example, despite the aid to Taiwan, tensions between Communist China and Taiwan continued to fester, making it possible for a war to occur. More importantly, U.S. relations with the Soviets constantly endangered the world from nuclear war. The spy plane incident in 1960, where a Soviet rocket brought down an American spy plane, reminded people of the tensions and possible war between the two super powers.
The fall of Cuba in 1959, under communist leader Fidel Castro, was undoubtedly a huge blow to the U.S. For the next few years Cuba would be a center stage for U.S.-Soviet quarrels, consequently endangering the world from a start of a deadly war. After the fall of Cuba, the U.S. kept a cautious eye on Cuba and planned to free Cuba from communism. However, the U.S. found the Cuban situation extremely fragile and difficult as Castro (as well as the Soviets) showed little reluctance of giving up the communist Cuban regime. Such reluctance from both communist countries can be seen in 1960 after Cuba had seized three British-American oil refineries that refused to process Soviet oil. In response Eisenhower cut sharply the quota for Cuban sugar imports but Soviet Premier Khrushchev responded harshly by warning that any U.S. military intervention in Cuba would encounter Soviet rockets. After John Kennedy succeeded Eisenhower in 1961, Cuban relations will still remain a crucial issue in U.S. foreign policy. The poorly planned and poorly executed Bay of Pigs invasion ended in two days with the capturing of more than 1,100 men. The initial plan of the invasion was for 1,500 anti-Castro Cubans (who were trained by the CIA) to enter Cuba and inspire other Cubans on the island to rebel against Castro. However, the invasions failure just intensified the tensions between U.S.-Soviet relations and was an embarrassment for the new president. After the Bay of Pigs debacle, Kennedy met Khrushchev in Vienna in which Khrushchev browbeat the inexperienced Kennedy and threatened to limit Western access to Berlin, the divided city located deep within communist East Germany. This meeting also only intensified tensions between the two countries as Kennedy, who was shaken by the aggressive Soviet stand, called up Army reserves and National Guard units. The Soviets responded by erecting the infamous Berlin Wall, which cut off movement between East and West Germany. The U.S. foreign policy under Kennedy did not seem to make America and democracy safe but it seemed to create the opposite. As a result, the tense U.S.-Soviet relations became an intractable barrier for the safety of the world.
Perhaps the greatest threat to world safety came in 1962 with the Cuban missile crisis. Kennedy’s unwillingness to commit the forces necessary to overthrow Fidel Castro and his acquiescence to the erection of the Berlin Wall seemed to signify a failure of will, and the Soviets apparently reasoned that they could install their ballistic missiles in Cuba without American opposition. Their motives were to protect Cuba from another American-backed invasion, which Castro believed to be imminent, and to redress the strategic imbalance caused by the presence of American missiles in Turkey aimed at the Soviet Union. On October 14, 1962 American intelligence experts discovered that Soviet missile sites were under construction in Cuba. Thus, began one of the most anxious weeks in world history as the U.S. and Soviet Union headed toward their closest encounter with nuclear war. As tensions grew between the two countries the crisis was finally resolved when the U.S. agreed not to invade Cuba and the Soviets agreed to withdraw the missiles in Cuba. In the aftermath of the crisis, tensions between the two countries subsided as they took several measures to relax tensions. One important measure was the formation of the “hotline” telephone between Washington and Moscow. Such measures gradually brought a more relaxed tension between the two countries and an attitude towards peace. Discussions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union began on 1963 and resulted in a treaty with the Soviets and Britain to stop nuclear testing. The treaty was an important symbolic and substantive move toward peaceful coexistence between the U.S. and Soviet Union and would make the world a safer place.
In conclusion, it can be said that both Eisenhower and Kennedy strived to make America and the world safe for democracy and freedom as they implemented strict foreign policy’s to stop communist spreading. However, this policy did not necessarily make the world safe from war since the strict policy toward communism often lead to escalating tensions between democratic and communist nations. The U.S.-Soviet tensions that were evident in Eisenhower and Kennedy’s presidency undeniably posed a threat to nuclear war and the safety of the world. After the Cuban missile crisis U.S.-Soviet relations did relax and the two countries made their first step towards détente but there would still be many obstacles for the world to be a safer place.

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